newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The primary election that enables New Jerseyans to select the Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress is Tuesday and 48 percent of adult resident don't even realize it, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll made public Monday.

Another 30 percent told pollsters they have no idea when the next election would be held.

Fourteen percent of New Jerseyans correctly noted that the next time residents would have an opportunity to vote would be the state's primary election.

Most New Jerseyans, the 48 percent, thought the next time would be in November.

"Americans have more opportunities to vote than any other people in the world," Peter Woolley, a political scientist and poll director, said. "But we're oblivious to it."

One in five voters, 21 percent, over 60 years of age knew they'd have their next chance on Tuesday, compared to 13 percent of boomers age 45-59, and to 5 percent of voters under 30.

And one in five Republican voters, 20 percent, identified Tuesday as the next opportunity, compared to 13 percent of Democrats and 6 percent of independents.

"If you want your vote to count," Woolley said, "a contested primary is where your vote has the most influence. If you're voting on primary day, you're part of an elite."

In the 2006 mid-term primary elections, voter turnout ranged from a low of 5 percent in Camden County to a high of 16 percent in Hunterdon.

The Fairleigh Dickinson poll of 555 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone from May 20 to 23, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.